Surviving our children-and Alaskan politics-one day at a time.

Posts Tagged ‘Movies’

Before Sarah hijacked this blog, I had a regular feature called CineMonday! which highlighted a movie that I had recently watched. Now that Sarah is moving toward the background of my mind, I’ve decided it’s time to resurrect CineMonday! for the good of my readers (and myself).

Sicko is a must-watch movie for all Americans. It goes deep into the abyss which is the American healthcare system. Moore travels all over the country as well as to France and England to gather stories. The movie is not about the uninsured, but about the millions of Americans who are insured but who either cannot afford their deductibles or are denied services because of financial decisions made by a board of directors.

One story in particular hit home with me- a woman told the story of her 18-month-old daughter who came down with a fever of over 104 degrees. She took her to the hospital and was told that she had to go to a different hospital because her health insurance wouldn’t cover the costs of treatment. The woman begged the hospital staff to help her little girl, but was eventually escorted out of the building because she was “a threat.” By the time the woman got to the other hospital, the baby had died.

Tragedies like this are occurring every day in this country because our health care system is run by private insurance companies. In England and France (and every other western country), universal health care is the norm, and although there are some drawbacks, it is regarded as some of the best care in the world. You walk into a hospital, get treated and walk out without having to pay a dime. In one hospital, Moore interviewed the “cashier,” who gave cash reimbursements to patients for their travel to and from the hospital.

Sicko is very informative and while I know that we must take what Moore has to say with a grain of salt, it was definitely worth watching. I recommend it to everyone, especially right now as we debate what health care in America should look like.

I put this movie on my Netflix list because I had read the book this year and heard that there was a movie loosely based upon it. I knew it was not a documentary, but thought it was a drama about the behind-the-scenes of the fast food industry. In reality, it’s more about the struggle of immigrants and how they are involved with the production of fast food.

The story follows several different story lines. One is Greg Kinnear’s character, a corporate executive who heads to Colorado to find out why there is fecal matter in the meat. A larger part of the movie, though, follows the Mexican immigrants who cross the border illegally and find work at the meat packing plant that provides all the beef for Mickey’s “Big One,” a reference to the McDonald’s Big Mac. The executive is shown the sterilized, sanitized part of the plant, but we, the audience, get to look behind the curtain at the gruesome way cows are slaughtered so that we can eat a hamburger (spoiler: this doesn’t happen until the last five minutes of the movie). We also learn how the meat packing plant knowingly hires illegal immigrants so that they can keep costs low. The immigrants are not provided with benefits and are subjected to dangerous conditions which often cause them to be maimed and/or killed while on the job.

Hmmm, what can I say about Hellboy II: The Golden Army? I’ve seen Pan’s Labyrinth, and Hellboy II is no Pan’s Labyrinth. My expectations going into seeing this movie were not high, and I was not disappointed. It’s not that this is a terrible movie, but it certainly isn’t a good movie. The sets were very intricate, several characters were Pan’s Labyrinth-esque, and the movie had some interesting special effects. But the writing. Oh, the writing was bad. Plus, there is way too much focus on the love between both Hellboy and Liz, and between Abe Sapien and Princess Nuala.

The best thing I can say about Hellboy II is…watch the DVD extras. The interview of del Toro in the marketplace is really quite amazing. I found the behind-the-scenes stuff way more interesting than the movie itself.

After both his mother and uncle die, Jean, a hunchback, inherits a beautiful estate in the French countryside. Jean is from the city and is determined to make a go of living in the country, along with his wife and daughter. Unfortunately for him, his neighbors scheme against him in order to obtain the property, which has a hidden spring.

This is a wonderful movie from beginning to end. The setting is so beautiful it’ll make you want to move to France. If you decide to rent Jean de Florette, be aware that it is the first of two movies which should be watched together. Manon of the Spring is the movie that picks up where Jean de Florette leaves off. You will want to watch Manon because of the way Jean ends. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

I wasn’t all that excited to watch this movie, and I can’t tell you why. I mean, I don’t know why, not that I can’t tell you why, like it’s a secret. It’s been a long time since I’ve watched a movie set in the 1800’s, and I guess it just didn’t light my fire. Anyway, it turned out to be a pretty good movie.

It’s based on the true story of what happened to Jane Austen when she was a 20-year-old aspiring writer. She falls in love with an insufferable womanizer at the same time that a wealthy young heir offers to marry her, even though she does not love him. For those of you that have read Austen’s novels, you will recognize a common theme here. I won’t spoil the ending for you…you’ll have to watch the movie for yourself.

It’s worth a rental, and is especially fun for women. My husband refused to watch it with me.